Heretofore, the type of switch with a vertical section such as that shown in FIG. 1 has been used for lighting the stop lights of motorcycles. This switch has a pair of stationary contacts 2 and 3 in a housing part 1a, the ends of the stationary contacts 2 and 3 protruding backwards as terminals 2a and 3a. Another housing part 1b associated with said housing part 1a contains a slider 4 having a protrusion normally extending outwardly from the housing, as shown in FIG. 1. The slider is urged in the direction to extend its protrusion out of the housing by a spring 5. A movable contact 6 is fixed on the slider 4, and is urged by a leaf spring 7 in the direction to engage the stationary contacts 2 and 3. The action of the switch is, as shown in FIG. 2, that the movable contact 6 always makes contact with the upper surface of a protrusion 3b of one of the stationary contacts 3, and the movable contact 6 either makes contact with the other contact as shown in FIG. 2(A) or separates therefrom as shown in FIG. 2(B) depending on the position of the slider 4. The switch may be considered ON in FIG. 2(A), and OFF in FIG. 2(B).
In this type of switch, however, since the movable contact 6 always slides over the protrusion 3b of the stationary contact 3, chattering may occur between the movable contact 6 and the stationary contact 3 during operation. Hence it may be required to provide a chattering compensation circuit within a circuit incorporating this type of switch. Also when such a switch is frequently operated, failure may occur owing to wear of the contacting surface of the stationary contact 3 and the movable contact 6 as shown in FIG. 3. Furthermore, if a large current is supplied to such a switch, the contacting surfaces of the contacts may fuse due to Joule heating.
In a conventional switch of the type illustrated in FIG. 4, a notch 4 is made on the side of the slider 4 and a protrusion 6a extends from the side of the movable contact 6. The protrusion 6a may be inserted into the notch 4a to assemble the slider 4 and the movable contact 6. Therefore, the movable contact 6 may come off during assembly due to the force of the leaf spring 7 (FIG. 5), and it is difficult to assemble such a switch.